Tag: harry potter

The first TV series as part of he multimedia mega-production based on Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series has officially named its showrunner as former The Walking Dead showrunner Glen Mazzara. We also understand that Idris Elba, who plays The Gunslinger in the feature film that opened today, will also be involved at some level.

The series takes place many years previous to the film and tells the origin story of Roland Deschain – a.k.a. the Gunslinger. It takes mostly from the fourth book, Wizard and Glass, with flashbacks to the first book, The Gunslinger.

We had a passing…actor Robert Hardy, best known as the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge in several Harry Potter films and Siegfried Farnon in All Creatures Great And Small, passed away yesterday at the age of 91. His career spanned 70 years, including playing Winston Churchill in 6 separate productions due to the accuracy of his portrayal. I remember seeing him in his first film role, 1958’s Torpedo Run.

Lastly, Mr. Robot‘s return for Season 3 has been announced for October 11th at 10/9c on USA Network, and also that Bobby Cannavale (Ant-Man) will join the cast. See the trailer below…

The Harry Potter spinoff film Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, expected to lead another run in the franchise with up to 5 films, handily won the weekend box office with a $75 million opening take domestically and over $218 million globally. But this may have been a tad below expectations given that it was a Harry Potter film, with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 having done more than twice that at $169.2m, and the lowest opening of any of the films was $77.1m for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

We don’t know if this is a disappointment yet for Warner Bros, who might have been happier with a bigger haul, but this still seems respectable take and should insure the franchise moving forward. As fans get comfortable with the new characters and setting, I expect more heat to generate for the openings of future installments.

The Prototype series developed for Syfy is not moving forward at the network, but might be shopped elsewhere. The pilot starred Jack Davenport (Smash) and Cote de Pablo (NCIS), and followed Edward “Eddy” Conway (Davenport), an aging playboy and former Silicon Valley wunderkind who has retreated from the tech world to return to UCLA as a physics professor. Eddy’s lack of self-control, be it with coeds or sports cars, has made him familiar with some unsavory characters, but his latest project might prove to be his most dangerous endeavor to date.

The CW announced that Alexandra Metz (Chicago Fire) will join the upcoming Frequency series, based on the 2000 film, as Maya, a college student desperate to prevent herself from becoming a victim of a violent crime. In addition Chai Romruen (Mako Mermaids) will join The 100 as the recurring character Ilan, a Grounder haunted by the horrors he committed while under Alie’s control.

Co-creator Brian Michael Bendis tweeted that the second season of Powers on Playstation Network – for now. But it seems the second season premiere episode was available for free not just on PSN but other outlets like YouTube – and YouTube recorded over 4.6 million views and counting. So maybe it could find life elsewhere…and the comic will continue.

No surprise that a sequel to the upcoming Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is being worked on, but it already has a release date – November 16th, 2018, almost 2 years after the first.

And in case you haven’t heard (I did, but was on vacation at the time…) HBO’s Game Of Thrones will definitely end with the conclusion of Season 8. HBO would like to do more according to programming chief Casey Bloys, but the decision was from series creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. It’s not suprising as they overtake the source material from George R.R. Martin. Also, Season 7 won’t air until Summer of 2017, as they need to take advantage of some colder weather for shooting the upcoming season and thus are delaying production.

Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films, is joining the cast of The Flash for the upcoming season in a new regular role. No magical or super powers though, at least not yet – he’ll be playing mere human Julian Dorn, a fellow CSI in Central City who suspects there is more to his colleague Barry Allen.

The upcoming season will be taken from the “Flashpoint Paradox” storyline in the comics, where Barry’s actions trying to save his mother result in drastic changes across the DC universe.

Actor Alan Rickman, most known for his role of enigmatic Professor Severus Snape across the 8 movies of the Harry Potter franchise, passed away early this morning at the age of 69 after a bout with cancer, his family confirms.

Rickman created many memorable roles after arriving in Hollywood – and I mean RIGHT after. Two days after coming to Los Angeles, he was offered his first film role as the criminal mastermind Hans Gruber opposite Bruce Willis in 1998’s Die Hard, and forever made his mark off the bat. But he wasn’t an inexperienced actor, being well known in London’s West End, originating the role of Vicomte de Valmont in Les Liaisons Dangereuses in 1985 and carried that role to Broadway in 1987. Theater still remained his “first love”.

He followed up Gruber with another villainous role as the Sheriff of Nottingham against Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves with such an amazing “love to hate” character performance – something that he seemed to excel at. His portrayal as the Sheriff was even parodied in the slapstick comedy Robin Hood: Men In Tights by Roger Rees.

Other roles that we remember him and his distinctive voice most for were Metatron in Dogma, Dr. Lazarus/Alexander Dane in Galaxy Quest, and Harry, the husband who makes a mistake in Love Actually opposite Emma Thompson, whom he worked with many times and directed The Winter Guest, and they were good friends. Thompson was apparently with him and his family when he died.(continue reading…)

Warner Bros has confirmed that Oscar winning actor Eddie Redmayne will play the role of Newt Scamander, the author of the book (and title of the movie) Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, a prequel story set in the world of Harry Potter.

The script itself was written by Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling in her screenwriting debut, with the film being directed by David Yates (who directed the last four Harry Potter films and produced by David Heyman (who produced all of them).

Redmayne won the Oscar for his portrayal of physicist and author Stephen Hawking in the movie The Theory of Everything, and prior to that captured audiences as Marius in Les Misérables.